Roman Embassy to Han China (166): Daqin Envoys Reach the Court

In AD 166, according to the Book of the Later Han, envoys sent by “Andun, king of Daqin” arrived at the southern frontier of Han China and presented gifts to Emperor Huan. Daqin was the Chinese name for the Roman Empire, and Andun is generally taken to be Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. The episode is the first recorded contact in which people claiming to represent Rome reached China.

The record is brief, and no Roman source mentions the mission. Most historians believe the “envoys” were Roman subjects trading in the Indian Ocean who presented themselves as an embassy.

Background: two empires at a distance

In the second century AD the Roman Empire and the Han Empire were the two largest states in the world, but they knew each other only by report. Romans called the Chinese the Seres, the “silk people”, and silk was a costly luxury in Rome. The trade passed through many intermediaries, especially the Parthians in Iran and merchants in India.

The Chinese also knew of a great western empire. In AD 97 the general Ban Chao sent his officer Gan Ying to reach Daqin. Gan Ying got as far as a great sea, probably the Persian Gulf, but turned back after Parthian sailors warned him of a long, dangerous voyage.

The Chinese account of Daqin, preserved in the Book of the Later Han, describes it as a large and orderly country with walled cities, postal stations and kings chosen for their merit. It also states that the king of Daqin had always wanted to send envoys to China but that the Parthians blocked the way, wishing to keep the silk trade for themselves.

What the record says

The passage is short. It states that in the ninth year of the Yanxi era of Emperor Huan, AD 166, the king of Daqin, Andun, sent envoys from beyond the frontier of Rinan, a commandery in what is now central Vietnam. They offered elephant ivory, rhinoceros horn and tortoiseshell. The text adds that this was the first time there was direct communication.

The Chinese compilers also commented that the gifts were not rare or precious. They wondered whether earlier reports of Daqin’s wealth had been exaggerated. Ivory, rhinoceros horn and tortoiseshell were, in fact, products of South and Southeast Asia, which suggests the visitors had acquired them on their way.

Who sent the envoys?

Several points support the view that this was a private venture rather than an official embassy:

• No Roman historian or inscription mentions an embassy to China.
• The gifts were Asian goods of the kind traders bought locally, not Roman manufactures.
• Roman merchants, many of them Greek-speaking subjects from Egypt and Syria, were already active in Indian ports and further east.

The name Andun matches Antoninus, which was part of the official name of both Antoninus Pius (died AD 161) and Marcus Aurelius, emperor in 166. Most scholars favour Marcus Aurelius, the reigning emperor, but the visitors may simply have used the name of the ruling house.

The date is interesting. In the mid-160s Roman armies under Lucius Verus were fighting Parthia, and their return brought the Antonine Plague to the Roman world. A war with Parthia may have encouraged traders to seek sea routes that avoided Parthian territory.

Other evidence for contact

Archaeology supports the existence of a sea route. At Óc Eo in southern Vietnam, a port of the kingdom of Funan, excavators found Roman gold medallions and coins from the reigns of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, along with Indian and Persian goods. The geographer Ptolemy, writing in the second century, names a distant port called Cattigara, often placed somewhere in Southeast Asia or southern China.

Chinese sources record later visitors too. A merchant from Daqin named Qin Lun reached the court of the kingdom of Wu in AD 226, and another group of supposed Daqin envoys arrived at the Jin court in AD 284.

Myths and facts

• Myth: The Roman emperor personally sent ambassadors to the Chinese emperor. Fact: Only the Chinese side recorded the visit, and its own compilers doubted the gifts; a private trading mission is the most likely explanation.
• Myth: Rome and Han China fought or traded with each other directly over land. Fact: The two empires never shared a border, and nearly all overland trade passed through Parthian, Kushan and Central Asian middlemen.
• Fact: Each empire had real, if hazy, knowledge of the other. Roman writers such as Pliny the Elder complained about the money spent on silk and eastern luxuries, while Chinese historians described Daqin as a mirror image of their own civilised empire.

Timeline

• AD 97: Gan Ying, sent by Ban Chao, attempts to reach Daqin but turns back.
• AD 161: Marcus Aurelius becomes Roman emperor, with Lucius Verus as co-emperor.
• AD 165: Roman forces campaign in Parthia; the Antonine Plague begins to spread.
• AD 166: Envoys from “Andun, king of Daqin” arrive at the Rinan frontier and present gifts to Emperor Huan.
• AD 226: The Daqin merchant Qin Lun visits the kingdom of Wu.
• AD 284: Another Daqin mission is recorded at the Jin court.

Why it matters

The embassy of 166 is the first recorded moment when travellers linked to Rome stood in China. Whether merchants or envoys, they show that by the second century the Indian Ocean had become a route connecting the two great empires at opposite ends of Eurasia.